A newlywed wife accused of stabbing to death her lawyer husband was 'bleeding him dry' and beating him in their home, a court has heard.

Sharon Edwards, 42, allegedly killed her spouse David Edwards, 51, after they returned to their house in Chorley, Lancashire, from Majorca last summer.

Just two months earlier, the pair had exchanged their wedding vows in Las Vegas.

Today, Manchester Crown Court heard how 'domineering' and 'possessive' Edwards had beaten her husband throughout the course of their brief relationship.

Colleagues of Mr Edwards, a criminal defence lawyer, told a jury of eight women and four men that they had warned him to 'get away' from his wife.

Jurors heard how the defendant would finish a bottle of wine before her husband went to work and would get taxis to the supermarket to buy more.

Newlyweds: Mr Edwards died just two months after the couple's wedding in Las Vegas last June, the court heard (Image: Cavendish)

She would also allegedly launch coffee tables and ashtrays at Mr Edwards, resulting in him often turning up to work battered and bruised.

But despite this, Mr Edwards refused to report his wife to police, the court heard.

The defendant was said to have 'perhaps quite liked the idea of being Mrs Edwards, a solicitor's wife'

However Mr Edwards being made redundant and the likely future effect on his income or status 'may well have been relevant' to his wife's 'increasing resentment towards him' the jury was told.

Mr Edwards had been an instructing solicitor for barrister Joanne Shepherd, whose statement was read to the court.

In it, she said: "He described her (Edwards) as a complete nightmare and she was bleeding him dry, spending all his money."

Edwards denies murdering her new husband on August 23, 2015, following a night of drinking.

Scene: Paramedics pronounced Mr Edwards dead at the matrimonial home last August (Image: Cavendish)

The defendant is accused of stabbing him for a first time that night before Mr Edwards sustained a further, fatal, injury the next day.

Another former colleague of the lawyer, Christopher Hall, said he had many conversations with Mr Edwards about his wife, having noticed his black eyes, burst lips and claw marks.

He said Mr Edwards would pass off his injuries as 'accidents'.

Mr Hall told the court: "I asked him many times; he 'fell down the stairs'. He walked into a door on at least two occasions. One occasion, a garage door had come up and hit him.

"He once confided in me that Sharon had assaulted him. I think it was her elder daughter who had called the police."

Mr Hall said that when Edwards was arrested, her husband had refused to make a statement and she had said 'no comment' in an interview with police.

He said: "David's words were, as a defence support, he 'knew the system'. He said that if he refused to make a complaint and Sharon refused to answer any questions to police, no action could be taken by police."

'Victim': Mr Edwards died after sustaining an 8cm long and 2cm wide knife stab wound to the chest (Image: Cavendish)

He added: "I told him to just get away and get to his parents, just by himself, and to think things through. He half listened but half didn't. He said that she wouldn't let him."

Mr Edwards's neighbour of seven years Kathleen Hurst said that when the defendant moved in with her new husband she noticed the rowing between them.

Ms Hurst replied: "The atmosphere changed, it became argumentative. It is a quiet close where we live and we don't have much noise, but in the night time we could hear arguing going on from the house."

Ms Whyte asked: "What could you predominantly hear?"

The witness replied: "A lot of shouting, female, I never heard David's voice raised. I never heard David raise his voice in all the time that I knew him."

Another neighbour said that while Mr Edwards became more dishevelled, Edwards's appearance "never changed - she was always made up and her hair done".

Floral tributes: Jurors heard how the defendant would finish a bottle of wine before her husband went to work (Image: Cavendish)

In an interview with police, Edwards claimed that she and her husband - whom she married in June 2015 - had rowed on the morning of his death.

She said her spouse had taken a knife from the kitchen, before she took it off him and he 'walked' towards her.

Edwards told officers her husband had 'begged' her not to call for an ambulance after he was struck by the blade.

She added that she had later discovered him lying dead in bed.

A Home Office pathologist later concluded that Mr Edwards had sustained an 8cm long and 2cm wide knife stab wound travelling through the chest wall and into the heart sac, which had proved fatal.

He also had a 1.5cm shallow wound from the previous day.

The court earlier heard how the victim's body was 'covered in bruises and abrasions as well as the other wounds and incisions'.